Two tried and true favorites: pasta salad and buffalo chicken collide in this simple to make healthier take on pasta salad that honestly steals the side dish show at any cookout or BBQ. Beyond that, it’s a quick and easy meal prep lunch to nosh on all week too.
This recipe was created in partnership with Trimona. Thanks for supporting the brands that make Running to the Kitchen possible. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
No respectable summer BBQ spread is lacking the giant Tupperware of someone’s homemade pasta salad. It’s pretty much as expected as mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving dinner.
If you roll up with this creamy buffalo chicken pasta salad though, people will go from just scooping onto their plate next to the burger, to asking “who made the pasta salad?” with that kind of “I need the recipe” type of energy. It’s that good.
It’s also sneakily healthier than the ones doused in oil or, worse, coated in mayo. Gag.
This flavorful combination uses Trimona Bulgarian style yogurt for the perfect creaminess without the heaviness of mayonnaise. Its inherent tangy flavor is also the exact counterbalance the buffalo sauce’s spicy ways. If you’re a stickler for texture in your pasta salad, this is also your ideal recipe with tons of fresh crunchy veggies in the mix that keep each bite interesting.
Buffalo Chicken Salad at a Glance
- Everything you love about a basket of your favorite wings in the form of pasta salad.
- Creamy, spicy, crunchy.
- Healthier, real food ingredient list.
- Perfect prep ahead recipe.
Ingredient Spotlight
- Chicken – You can use already cooked (leftover) chicken for this recipe or cook the chicken specifically for it. I like to use boneless skinless chicken breasts and if I’m cooking it as I make the recipe, I simply season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, a splash of buffalo sauce and brown it in cubes in a skillet. Feel free to use rotisserie chicken for this recipe, it’s perfect and a great time saving option.
- Pasta – Any pasta shape works in pasta salad but my ideal option for this and most others is a smaller, short shape like these mini shells, orecchiette, elbows or rotini. Just choose whichever you have on hand and don’t overcook it. Al dente only in pasta salads!
- Yogurt – This is where my buffalo chicken pasta salad recipe outshines the others. I use plain yogurt by Trimona to balance the spiciness of the buffalo sauce and create a creamy sauce that coats all the veggies, chicken and pasta.
Have You Heard of A2A2 Yogurt?
Trimona yogurt is one of the cornerstones in my fridge. Their Bulgarian style yogurt is made solely with organic A2A2 whole milk so it can be easier on digestion for some people who have a harder time with the protein structure of conventional dairy (A1A2).
Unlike Greek yogurt, it’s unstrained which leaves more of the nutritional value intact. It’s naturally tart, tangy and low in sugar and perfect in so many ways. I use it almost daily in savory ways to create quick sauces and marinades.
- Buffalo sauce – You can use a homemade sauce here or your favorite store-bought one. I’m partial to Primal Kitchen’s buffalo sauce for the higher quality ingredient list and its spice level.
- Veggies – This is where you can ad-lib a bit. Like a good basket of buffalo wings, of course this pasta salad is going to have celery and carrots. Beyond that, choose what’s in your fridge or what you like. I opted for red onion, bell pepper and thinly sliced radish for lots of crunch. Just make sure to finely chop the veggies so no bite is too overwhelming.
- Garnish – Green onion or cilantro both complement the buffalo chicken pasta salad flavors well, choose your favorite before serving.
Make This Buffalo Chicken Pasta Salad in Minutes
This recipe is really as easy as whisking the sauce together in a large bowl, chopping the vegetables and cooking some pasta. Everything is simply tossed together in the serving bowl.
If you’re using pre-cooked chicken you’ll have this prepped and ready to go in about 15-20 minutes. It’s such a simple recipe that really packs in the flavor and it keeps so incredibly well in the fridge if you want to meal prep this for yourself and have ready to go lunches for the week which I’ve done twice now and haven’t gotten tired of.
My Pro Tips
For the Best Tasting Pasta Salad
- Let the pasta cool before tossing it together with the sauce. Cool pasta won’t absorb all the creamy yogurt buffalo sauce which is what you want. It should coat all the ingredients, not get absorbed by the pasta.
- Can’t eat anything buffalo without blue cheese? Top the salad with blue cheese crumbles. I actually bought it and forget to use it the last time I made this salad!
- Make it gluten-free by using your favorite gluten-free pasta. I’m loving Rummo right now for all my GF pasta meals.
- Make it vegetarian friendly by leaving out the chicken. The pasta salad becomes more of a traditional side dish option if you do it this way and goes great with anything off the grill like chicken, burgers, hot dogs, etc.
- Craving salt? Cooked crumbled bacon would level this up for sure. I’m trying this next!
More Buffalo Sauced Goodness
Anything with buffalo sauce is a straight throwback to my college days and many weeknights spent in bars eating as much of it as I possibly could. These days, I get my fix through healthier variations, but they all hit that buffalo sauce goodness vibe.
- Buffalo chicken tenders – love this easy air fryer recipe. It’s crispy, crunchy and GF!
- Buffalo chicken nachos – the quintessential game day recipe.
- Buffalo chicken orzo soup – a creamy buffalo sauce broth with hearty pasta and chicken. It’s comfort food in a bowl.
- Buffalo cauliflower steaks – complete with a blue cheese coleslaw topping. THIS is how you make healthier twists still taste great.
Buffalo Chicken Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 1 pound chicken breasts, cubed and cooked (*see note)
- 6 ounces dry small shell pasta, or any small shape
- 1/2 red onion, finely chopped, about 75g
- 3 stalks celery, finely chopped, about 100g
- 2 carrots, finely chopped, about 175g
- 1/2 green bell pepper, finely chopped, about 115g
- 3 radishes, thinly sliced, about 60g
- 3/4 cup plain yogurt, 170g
- 3/4 cup buffalo wing sauce, 90g
- 2 green onions, chopped for garnish, about 20g
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Cook the chicken (*see note below) if starting with raw chicken instead of pre-cooked chicken.
- Cook the pasta according to package directions. I like to leave it al dente by about 1 minute for this salad.
- Whisk together the yogurt and buffalo wing sauce in a large bowl that you'll be preparing and storing or serving the salad in.
- Add the cooked chicken, cooked pasta and all the remaining ingredients to the bowl.
- Toss to thoroughly combine and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Gina Matsoukas is an AP syndicated writer. She is the founder, photographer and recipe developer of Running to the Kitchen — a food website focused on providing healthy, wholesome recipes using fresh and seasonal ingredients. Her work has been featured in numerous media outlets both digital and print, including MSN, Huffington post, Buzzfeed, Women’s Health and Food Network.
